Lauryn Hill Goes Directly to Jail to Begin Three Month Sentence

Stop The Presses!

Jon WiederhornJuly 8, 2013

By Jon Wiederhorn

(Photo: Dave Kotinsky, Getty Images)

Ex-Fugees vocalist and solo artist Lauryn Hill wrapped up the July 4 weekend, then at 11:15 Monday reported to a federal prison in Connecticut, confirming Benjamin Franklin’s assertion that "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

Hill began her three-month jail sentence for tax evasion at the Federal Correctional Institute in Danbury, a minimum security prison that holds criminals in "barracks-type housing," reported TMZ.

According to insiders, the 38-year-old singer won't receive any special treatment from prison officials; she’ll be right there will the rest of the inmates.

On June 28, 2012, Hill plead guilty to three counts of tax evasion for not reporting $1.8 million she earned between 2005 and 2007. During a hearing on April 22, a judge gave Hill until May 3 to pay $500,000 if she wanted to avoid incarceration. "This is not someone who stands before the court penniless," said Judge Madeline Cox Arleo.

Despite promises from her attorneys, Hill failed to pony up the cash in time to avoid a sentence. At the time, she faced up to three years behind bars. A year ago, Hill wrote a message to her fans, in which she blamed the corporate music industry and the media for her financial woes and the alleged endangerment of herself and her family.

"My intention has always been to get this situation rectified," she wrote on her Tumblr. "When I was working consistently… I filed and paid my taxes. This only stopped when it was necessary to withdraw from society, in order to guarantee the safety and well-being of myself and my family."

Now that she's even further withdrawn from society and the music business she should have plenty of time to consider her future financial and career options.